I'm not a runner, but...

[lauraelmore1033]

I have a volunteer job that can involve a fair amount of jogging/running which does seem to be having an impact on my cycling training efforts. I volunteer one afternoon a week at a theraputic riding center, which generally involves guiding a horse and rider through a riding lesson. Depending on the horse and the rider, this can involve a couple episodes of shuffle/jogging the length of the arena to several all out romps(for me) interspersed with lots of brisk walking over the course of one to three hours. I've noticed that my hamstrings and butt are getting progressively stiffer and tighter (in spite of stretching), which makes my training rides the next day more and more of a chore. I am training for a couple of long distance rides over the summer, and am wondering if things will ease up if I keep at it or even encorporate more jogging into my routine. Or should I knock off running with the horses for the summer?

[colby]

Probably a little of a mixture. Your body will need to adapt to the running, and you need to account for the extra exercise when you eat, hydrate, stretch, and then ride. You might need a longer cycling warmup than you are used to - even for those of us more acclimated to riding and running back to back (or on consecutive days), there are still days where one or the other (or both) suffer for whatever your previous workouts were.

You may want to not run during the week leading up to your rides, and as a practice take non-running day before you do your training long rides to give you a chance to loosen up. As you adapt, it will be less of an issue.

It is possible to do both, and it may mean compromising one or the other until you get more used to it. I don't think you need to give up either.

[abejita]

Don't give up the volunteering!

[lauraelmore1033]

Thanks! I guess that is the answer I was expecting. I've decided I'll just keep at it, but take the week off before both rides. A little extra misery on the training rides won't kill me though....